Eric Smalley writes: "Processors include a small amount of cache memory, which reduces the number of times the processor has to fetch data from main memory, but Venray goes further. It puts the processor and main memory on the same chip. It’s called processor-in-memory, or PIM, and it’s not exactly a new idea. Fish and others have been pursuing the idea for decades. But its time may finally have come.

In today's world, biomedical research and other Big Data applications that juggle enormous amounts of information are butting up against that memory wall, and if we’re to achieve personalized medicine --" where we tailor drugs and other treatments to an analysis of an individual’s genetic makeup --" we need chips that can push through that wall."